Jinamanjari 1995 09 No 12

Author(s): Jinamanjari
Publisher: Canada Bramhi Jain Society Publication

Page 28

shedding its bark just as a tree does it in the Fall. The mountain similarly looks fresh after it gets clear of the clouds around.'
'In the rainy season Pulindas - the foresters who scale vindhyas rest their cheeks on their bows and look happily at vindhyas that is surrounded by clouds which look like a herd of elephants.' Vindhyas are full of elephants. Either a king or Vindhya ranges can maintain a royal animal like an elephant. Elephants are compared with clouds and vice versa. During summer forest catches fire with the friction of dried branches. The ensuing smoke and soot covers Vindhya ranges. The while clouds on the top shine forth. This picture enabled a prakait poet to imagine a picture of Lord, whose dark body emerged out of a milky ocean with drops of milk set on his self. The following lines of Gatha Sapta Sati provide description of the Vindhyas.
Vakpati Raja who composed Gaudo-vaho. mahakavya in the 7th century A.D. was a junior contemporary of Bhavabhuti. His poetic description of the landscape of the Vindhyas is unique (GV. 28). H
'So lofty are the Vindhyas that the onlooker standing near it fails to find the sky - scape; its peaks extend all over as far as his vision extends.
'One in the majestic valleys of the Vindhyas actually looses track of the mountain itself because he cannot see its peaks, but only a hollow wide pit.'
"The space between the sky and the earth is filled there with so many caves, ridges and slopes. It looks as though somebody has measured the earth and the heaven to carve the beautiful landscape. (GV. 282).
Varied but simple pictures of villages here have been described in Gauda-Vaho.
"The outskirts of villages in the winter have cool waters resoning with sweet notes of Krauncha and sarasa birds and winds carrying the pleasant aroma of harvested kalama (paddy) crop (GV.273).
A kavya should include faithfull description of seasons. Winter biting the original Jain establishment the original Jain establishment
26